Enchanted Forest Sanctuary

With a name like Enchanted Forest Sanctuary, you can bet this park jumped to the top of my bucket list. I mean, who doesn’t want to hike through an enchanted forest? So, I paid this Brevard County Parks & Recreation sanctuary a visit and hiked a combination of trails that took me through the park’s five distinct habitats. I was not disappointed.

This 470 acre sanctuary offers 8 short trails that are all interconnected. My perimeter hike was just over 3 miles and ranged from boardwalks over swamps to pine flatwoods. Some of the largest oaks I’ve seen, adorned with Spanish moss and resurrection ferns, call this enchanting place home. Wildflowers, Beautyberries, butterflies and dragonflies are abundant. Wildlife ranges from bobcats to owls to red-bellied woodpeckers. An endangered gopher tortoise even has a burrow along the appropriately named Tortoise Trail.

Enchanted Forest Sanctuary is Brevard County’s flagship for their EEL Program — Environmentally Endangered Lands — so it’s a real showcase. There’s also an Education Center, Butterfly Garden, Amphitheater, Picnic Area, a small Coquina Quarry, the Addison/Ellis Canal and 3 overlooks. All in all, a great place for a family outing or a lone hike. Bonus: It’s FREE.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, so check out the Photo Gallery and WonderMap (below). I think you’ll want this little oasis on your Bucket List.

WonderMap: Click on the waypoint flags to see GPS location photos along the trails.

This site does not support embedded trip maps. View the trip here instead.